Taipei...before my downfall

After 18hrs of travel, including a super short connection in HKG, we decided to skip tucking into the comforts of our bed and decided to hit up the Shilin night market just a few blocks from our hotel. One of the "greatest hits" from the night market was our first snack:



Yep, it's fried chicken that's pretty much as big as your head. As far as I can tell, it's pretty much an entire half of a chicken, leg bones and wing tips removed. Nicely spiced, I picked up on cinnamon, star anise and lots of white pepper. (aka, crushed up bandaids...no, it's not as gross as it sounds, unless you're one of the lucky few who are sensitive to it). I'm pretty sure that the breading makes use of some sweet potato starch....while the crust is super crispy and crunchy, as the oil and chicken juice start to soak the crust, it gets this really nice chewy texture to it. It's somewhat similar to the "popcorn chicken" that you can get from boba tea shops back home...but definitely some significant differences.



Next up on the "greatest hits" list was the oyster pancake. Kind of hard to describe really...it's definitely no omelette, as the egg just seems to be the binder for all of the stuff in it. There're of course the oysters, we got shrimp as well, and then some greens, maybe cabbage, and some slimy starchy thing...not noodles, but definitely there. Like I said, kind of hard to describe. The oysters were pretty much warmed through rather than actually being cooked...nothing like fried oysters. All of it's topped off with a mild chili sauce. Interesting range of textures and new to me flavors, but personally not my favorite.



I keep being tempted by these gigantic sausages (yep, go ahead, comment, I dare you), but no matter how much I walked around seeing various carts with them, I did not see a single person eating one. So, is this like a to-go meal for the family...or just a joke that they play on unwitting tourists? (edit: later we figured out why we didn't see people munching down on giant tube steaks...they cut it up for you and serve it with raw garlic...and it's delicious!)



Looking to wash things down, we ordered up some freshly juiced bittermelon. Spiff actually hates bittermelon for the most part, but the taiwanese stuff (in addition to being white rather than green), is pretty mildly bitter. Even better it's pretty crisp and refreshing...definitely worth a shot regardless of your fondness for the thing. I'm pretty sure it would make for an excellent cocktail ingredient.